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Re: OT: Top Posting Vs. Bottom Posting: Case Closed!
de Ron May 04/23/2006 05:42
On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:02:11 +0200, Morten Skarstad
<root@localhost.invalid> wrote:
>Al Klein skrev:
>> In a business email environment, top posting makes sense. No
>> scrolling to see your boss' "Please get back to me by 3 today" at the
>> top.
>
>Top posting in an e-mail (I see no distinction between business or
>personal) does not make sense if the mail contains multiple points which
>should be replied to separately. I much prefer usenet-style replies with
>indented paragraphs from the original mail, with replies after each and
>every paragraph.
>
>Too bad some business related software (such as Lotus Notes, ew!) makes
>this very difficult. You wont believe the messy e-mails I have seen,
>especially when the conversation has gone back and forth a few times,
>with multiple recipients and CCs added and removed along the way.
What Al said above (in reply to an earlier post of mine) makes sense
if the boss is savvy enough to edit out all the meaningless garbage
between her/his one line missive and the relevant portion.
Unfortunately, most aren't, and for those of us who work in a large
corporate or governmental environment, netiquette is usually not one
of the things you pick to do battle over. Even if you make a convert
or two, you're not going to change the cultural habit of just clicking
the "FWD" button, selecting a distribution list and sending the whole
pile of trash on in its entirety.
And Morten, you're right. Software IS a major contributing/causal
factor. I use Outlook 2003 at work because I don't have a choice.
Very often, I use the technique Al described when passing on an action
or technical item, but ONLY after making sure that JUST the necessary
information gets forwarded and the rest is deleted before sending it.
On the other hand, however, when exchanging emails between individuals
or groups, and there's a need to intersperse point-by-point replies
between paragraphs in non-plain-text Outlook messages, and, at the
same time, have the output appear in professional and readable form,
THAT is overly difficult and requires much extra time and effort that
most people simply aren't willing to invest.
--
Ron M.